Mother Nature vs. Mother Nurture
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What's going on, my friends? Welcome back to the Ryan League Podcast, where we love to keep things short and sweet for you each and every week. We always want to give you a little something to add value to your life and inspire your week. Today's episode is entitled Mother Nature vs. Mother Nurture. Mother Nature vs. Mother Nurture. There is an age-old debate that shows up everywhere, from psychology classrooms to locker rooms to good old-fashioned family dinners. Mother nature versus mother nurture. In other words, what are we born with versus what are the things that can actually shape us and change us? It's like sometimes you look at these people. who are leaders, and we would use a phrase like they're a natural born leader.
It's like some people, it's like they were wired for success. And then you're over there just like, dude, am I just lazy?
What is the debate between Mother Nature and Mother Nurture?
What were we born with versus they just work really hard? What were we born with versus they just put their 10,000 hours in? It's interesting. I was asked the other day if I think people are born with it. If people are born with it, you know what it is, that resilience, that leadership, that confidence, that drive to win. Are some people just wired differently? Or can you put your 10,000 hours in? And here's what the research actually says. Yes, we are born with some predispositions. Genetics do matter. I was reading a study about twins actually the other day. It actually came out of the Minnesota Twin Family Study. They actually found that roughly 30 to 50% of personality traits like temperament, emotional reactivity, optimism, and even leadership tendencies can be attributed to genetics.
So if you've ever thought, I've always just been this way, you're not completely wrong. Because some people are more naturally calm. Some people are naturally more sensitive. Some people are naturally wired for risk. Some people are naturally wired for routine. But that's only half of the story. The other half of the story and the other half of the research suggests that environment can matter just as much as upbringing. In fact, one neuroscientist, he showed that the brain is highly plastic. I believe his name is Michael Gazzaniga is his name. You can look up his stuff. But he had this idea that the brain is highly plastic, meaning it changes based on experience, especially in response to stress, especially when you're trying to learn something new, especially when you're in some unique relationships.
These are things that can form things in your brain. So When you begin to think about your upbringing, your mentors, your trauma, your opportunities, the money you had or the money you did not have, all of those things don't just influence behavior. They actually shape how your brain develops. And so when we talk about something like resilience, you know, some people think, well, people are just born resilient. Well, the research would actually suggest otherwise. In fact, Resilience researchers, one of my favorites is Ann Mastin, she showed that resilience is not a fixed trait. It's a set of learnable skills, strongly influenced by supportive relationships, coping strategies, and meaning making skills.
After adversity. Meaning making. Which means like somebody can take something really, really rough and they can make meaning from it. The reason I like Ann Mastin is because she famously called resilient ordinary magic. Yeah, like you can be an ordinary person and still make magic. That's what resilience gives you.
So when we begin to think about this thing that feels like a superpower, it's not rare. It doesn't even make you elite. It's something that's built. Yeah, like you can have ordinary magic.
And so the good news of this episode is pretty simple, actually. If you were not born on the right side of the tracks, if you weren't born with the resources to be great, if your home was chaotic, if encouragement was scarce, if money was tight, You are not disqualified. If nature was not on your side, nurture can be. So regardless if you're a blue person, a yellow person, a red person, a green person, that's a personality assessment in corporate America, by the way, and you should take it and find out what color you are.
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